OSBI investigating officer involved shooting

LAWTON, Okla._ A man was shot by police late Saturday night after refusing to turn his weapon over to officers.

Police say Duffy Randolph Ahhaity, 40, barricaded himself in the bedroom of a home he was in the middle of burglarizing, holding the homeowner captive for more than five hours.

It happened at 1501 NW Williams Avenue just before 10 p.m. Saturday night. Police were originally called to check the welfare of Craig Tanner.

When police arrived they tried talking to Ahhaity through the bedroom door, but they eventually forced their way into the room after hearing the noise of shattered glass.

Ahhaity had broken out the bedroom window and tried to escape from the home on foot. Police caught up with Ahhaity, still with a weapon in hand, outside the home where he refused to turn his gun over to officers.

An LPD officer shot Ahhaity once in the chest. Ahhaity was treated on scene and taken to Comanche County Memorial Hospital, where he is expected to make a full recovery.

On Sunday, Tanner recalled the more than five hours he was inside the home being held hostage.

“He said ‘don’t move or I will kill you’,” says Tanner, who was repeatedly threatened and forced to stay on his bed.

Tanner says Ahhaity pointed a gun at his head and held a kitchen knife up to his throat. He says he was worried for his life, but his concerns for his dog were greater.

He managed to recover his cell phone Ahhaity had taken from him and secretly called his neighbor using already-established code words.

“If I ever need the police called to my house or if something is bad wrong, I will call you and ask to speak to Kenneth, her dad, and vice versa, and that's what I did. I said, ‘Linda can you hear me’, and she said yeah, ‘I need to speak to Kenneth right now’, she said bye.”

Police arrived at the home shortly thereafter making Ahhaity nervous, according to Tanner. Ahhaity told Tanner to open the door: “He said ‘if you tell them anything or let them in,’ then he grabbed my dog by the collar and he said, ‘I'll kill your dog before they even get back here’.’

With police at the door it was a sigh of relief for Tanner. He and his dog made it out of the home without injury.

“Oh, I was just ecstatic, you have no idea because I thought he was going to die and he doesn't deserve any of that. He's a good little dog."

The Lawton Police Department has turned over the investigation to the Oklahoma Bureau of Investigation (OSBI). Ahhaity is expected to make a full recovery. The two officers involved in the shooting have been put on administrative leave.